from here in gaza city. our extensive coverage continues right now withourwolfblitzerwho'sstanding by in jerusalem. wolf? >>> anderson, it's joe johns in washington, d.c., taking over. we'll be coming to wolf momentarily. happening now, running for cover and an israeli city under fire. across the border in gaza, wails of grief and characterize for revenge. and from afar, the president of the united states works the phone, pushing everyone to find a way to stop the killing. wolf blitzer is in jerusalem. i'm joe johns. you're in t"the situation room." >>> we're live in jerusalem right now at the end of a sixth day of intense rocket fire directed at israel from hamas-controlled gaza, as well as militants and their supplies. israeli officials say three people are dead, 68 people have been wounded. officials put the gaza death toll at 104 with 860 people wounded. all the while world diplomats constantly are looking for some way to broker a cease-fire. in a little bit, you're going to hear my conversation with one of top negotiators attempting to achieve a cease-fire, the former british

very own anderson cooper. that's it for me. i'm going to hand it over now to myfriendwolfblitzerin"the situation room." >>> don, thanks very much. happening now, fighting between israel and hamas militants gets more explosive with an attack that could help turn the conflict into a full fledged ground war. also, david petraeus emerges from the shadow of the scandal to testify before congress. did he clear up confusion about the attack on the u.s. diplomats in benghazi? and another high-profile republican now running away from mitt romney after he tried to blame his loss on so-called gifts from president obama. james carville and ari fleischer, they are here this hour. we're going to talk about the gop's hand wringing and back stabbing. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> hamas militants -- [ gunfire ] -- there they are. hamas militants in gaza keep unleashing rocket attacks on israel and get alarmingly close to jerusalem. a new provocation as they continue the air assault on what it calls terrorist targets in gaza. the death toll is rising along with fears of a

seethewolfblitzerskit?>> happening now! >> they do agreatwolf. agreat wolf. okay. ahead this morning on "starting point," we took you at the top of the show live to gaza. coming up next, live to jerusalem as israel broadens its assault. will intense negotiations happening right now, will it all stop the bloodshed? >> and mayors from across the country gathering to pressure lawmakers for a deal on the fiscal cliff. they say their cities will struggle with no compromise. we're going to talk live to myer michael nutter and mesa mayor scott smith. >> also the president is not impressed. the picture with an olympic star gymnast that's gone viral. what's that about? back in a moment. >>> it is half past the hour here. welcome back to "starting point" on this monday. soledad is off today, i'm brooke baldwin. >> i'm john berman. an israeli missile has leveled a two story home in gaza city, killing 11 civilians, 4 of them children. the violence threatening to escalate out of control. rockets raining from gaza to israel. representatives from two sides are in egypt for cease-fire t

are fighting over. >>> just a while agoourwolfblitzerspokewith former british prime minister tony blair about the cross-border battalions between israel and hamas, and wolf joins us now, and, wolf, i know that he also serves as the peace envoy, the middle east peace envoy. does he believe that peace can be achieved here? >> well, he is not very upbeat in the short-term. he is obviously like everyone else would like to see some sort of immediate cease-fire to stop the killing on the israeli and the palestinian side in gaza. he knows there's a lot of diplomatic activity going on behind the scenes. he himself has been in touch with most of the parties not directly with hamas since as a representative of what's called the quartet, including the quartet and european union. the u.s. and european union don't recognize hamas. they regard hamas as a terrorist organization, but there have been -- he has been involved with egypt, obviously, turkey, many of the other parties who are working feverishly behind the scenes to get some sort of cease-fire. look, if there is a cease-fire, that's just the